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Due to many reasons (MS can't update their software without issues, threat of having to pay monthly license fee for Windows 10, and I just plain like linux, it's faster (even my internet download speed has improved 120% in speed tests) + much more) I have switched over my desktop to Linux 100% of the time. Every program that I "needed" from Windows runs fine in Wine or has a linux version to use. Every program accept Affinity photo and Designer. I have tried the installation .exe which kills over immediately with a repetitive error "Exception: ResourceSection::ResourceSection". Copying the files from a Windows installation also throws exceptions.
Is there any hope of a linux version of Affinity sometime in the near future?
If the answer is no (and I hope it isn't), do you have any way of a workaround to get both Photo and Designer working in Linux?

Hi, I've made an attempt to run Affinity Designer on Linux via Wine. I managed to run the program myself, but it is not possible to create or edit a document. The problem is probably with Direct3D support in Wine or in my GPU (maybe drivers).
I will describe how to install and run the Designer via Wine. Maybe someone can successfully create or edit a document (eg with a different GPU). The operating system used is Ubuntu 18.04.
What we need?
Windows (yes, I know) - it can be a virtual machine. It will be used to extract the installation of the program because the standard installer does not work under the Wine.
Wine with some patches - we must add MoveFileTransactedA/W stubs to kernel32. The building of Wine is required.
Winetricks.
64-bit mscms.dll library.
Affinity Designer installer and license.
Offline installer of .NET Framework 4.0 and .NET Framework 4.7.2.
Step 1 – build Wine
We must build and install 64-bit and 32-bit Wine with patch. Building of Wine on Ubuntu is very well described on the WineHQ wiki: Building Biarch Wine On Ubuntu. Don't forget to apply the patch from attachment (fix.patch). During the building process I installed additional libraries like libvulkan-dev and libvkd3d.
Step 2 – create MSI installer of Designer
This step must be done on Windows. Open the command line (cmd.exe) and go to the directory where the Affinity Designer installer is located. Run the affinity-designer.exe /extract command (the file name may be different). Complete the required data and create an MSI installer. Transfer the created MSI file to your system with Wine.
Step 3 – install Winetricks
The Winetricks installation is described on the project page: Winetricks. I prefer a manual installation of latest Winetricks instead install outdated version from repo.
Step 4 – create Wine prefix and install .Net framework
Installation of .Net Framework with Winetricks doesn't work for me, that's why I do it manually.
Initialize new Wine prefix:
WINEPREFIX=~/Designer wineboot –init
Change the system to Windows XP (for correct installation of .Net Framework 4.0) and remove the mono if installed:
WINEPREFIX=~/Designer winetricks winxp
WINEPREFIX=~/Designer winetricks remove_mono
Download and install .NET Framework 4.0:
wget 'http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/5/A/95A9616B-7A37-4AF6-BC36-D6EA96C8DAAE/dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe'
WINEPREFIX=~/Designer wine ./dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe /q
Change the system to Windows 7 and switch mscoree to native (this is very important):
WINEPREFIX=~/Designer winetricks win7
WINEPREFIX=~/Designer winecfg
Download and install .NET Framework 4.7.2:
wget 'http://download.microsoft.com/download/D/D/3/DD35CC25-6E9C-484B-A746-C5BE0C923290/NDP47-KB3186497-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe'
WINEPREFIX=~/Designer wine ./NDP47-KB3186497-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe /q
Step 5 - run Affinity Designer
Switch system to Windows 8.1 or 10. Designer will not start in Windows 7 mode due to Aero errors.
WINEPREFIX=~/Designer winetricks win81
Install Affinity Designer (in my case MSI installer is Affinity.msi)
WINEPREFIX=~/Designer wine msiexec /passive /i ./Affinity.msi
Copy the missing mscms.dll library to Affinity Designer instalation directory. In my case it is ~/Designer/drive_c/Program Files/Affinity/Affinity Designer/. I have found the missing library on dlldownloader.com: mscms.dll.
Start Affinity Designer:
WINEPREFIX=~/Designer wine "C:\Program Files\Affinity\Affinity Designer\Designer.exe"
The program should start and you will see the welcome screen.
I can open preferences and change options, but creating a new document causes a crash. In Performance tab my GPU is displayed as Intel(R) HD Graphivs 4000 (I have Intel® UHD Graphics 620).
Crash report:
Attempting to create Direct3D device with adapter Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
c:\buildagent10\work\live\persona\windows\libraries\serif.directx\dxrenderer.cpp(676): error 0x80004001 (Unknown error 0x80004001)
In the last step I tried to start the Designer using Vulkan-based D3D10/D3D11 implementation. After this (and install mesa-vulkan-drivers) in Performance tab my GPU is displayed correctly, but the program still crash while creating a new document.
WINEPREFIX=~/Designer winetricks dxvk
Crash report:
Attempting to create Direct3D device with adapter Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 (Kabylake GT2)
c:\buildagent10\work\live\persona\windows\libraries\serif.directx\dxrenderer.cpp(676): error 0x80004001 (Unknown error 0x80004001)
I know that Serif developers don't provide support for running Affinity programs via Wine. The post is for information purposes only.
fix.patch

I've read that there is no plan to develop a Linux version and I wonder why not?
(I've seen that there was a post about this but the question "why?" never got answered. To be clear: I'm not asking for further speculation, I would like the answer to come from someone who actually knows.)

Guys. Linux is the future. You may not see it at the moment, but you are trusting Apple way too much. What if your golden ecosystem breaks down?
The thing is that I know lots of people who would be willing to purchase this software for even more than the original price if it was available for Linux. The Linux community is not cheap. If there is a quality product that is worth it, we're gonna buy it. And I'm pretty convinced Affinity is. When I read about it, I was super excited because as a young alternative to Illustrator, Sketch and Vectormator, there would be a chance of Affinity being more modern and also supporting other Unices than only Mac OS. See, the world of Unix is so unbelievably huge, yet you are concentrating on such a tiny subset of it. The programming effort is tiny, many Unix programs are portable between systems without any modifications. Since Mac OS is practically a BSD-Rip-off, the programming effort of porting Affinity to Linux is tinytinytiny And you could be one of the first innovative companies offering a consumer-application for Linux, which would probably not only make huge waves in the Linux community itself, but also the whole industry, which will also gain you lots and lots of customers.
Unless you were dumb enough to use native Apple-APIs of course. Then you're f****d.
In that case I would advise switching as soon as possible, as painful as it might be. It will save you lots and lots of problems and lots of future pain. I can only advise you to look into Qt, which is by the way also cross-platform-compatible. Yes, I'm even talking about Windows.

Hi all,
I would like to give my opinion on how I see the market. So considering Adobe does not have interest in the Linux market, you guys could at least take the opportunity and make a version of Affinity Photo for Linux, which would be a really nice alternative to Photoshop.
I've tested and looked at a few Photoshop for Linux (mainly open source ones), but unfortunately none of them really stand that well. I've been using Photoshop since 2007 while I was in college, and I still use it at work, so it is really challenge to find out one to use at home that functionality wise, shortcuts, and everything fits to my pace.
Best regards,
Antonio Neto.

Hi,
is it correct there is no linux version yet?
is this being worked on?
i think most linux users will be very easily persuaded to get a license for this software so must be an awful lucrative business decision to make this happen.

Can I use Affinity Designer on Chrome OS or Linux? Actually I want to run it on a Chromebook, and you can very easily install Linux on it..so if Affinity Designer works on any of these OSes, I will be able to use it.

Hi,
Has anyone had any success installing Photo on a Linux machine using Wine. I did manage to get FL Studio, a Windows music app, to run perfectly that way but have failed in a couple attempts to make Photo work. Its a very quirky process and requires different work arounds for different Window apps. Anybody tried Wine successfully? Perhaps the developers can help???????
Thanks
Very New User Bob Solomon

Hi!
Since I am moving from Apple to Korora (Fedora Spin), was wondering if Serif is going to make GNU/Linux Affinity Designer and Photo?
There is huge gap in photo/image editing and vector apps on linux (I am aware of GIMP and Inkscape, however they are not pro apps).
My main scanning/3D/photo editing has moved to Korora workstation (VueScan, Blender, Darktable), I am thinking of completely dumping Apple for Linux.
Best regards,
P.

Hello There
I have some suggestions/requests from Serif, maybe with these you might have a chance to change the game:
A version for Linux, don't underestimate that realm and the amount of popularity you will gain from the Linux community, even if it's relatively small (for now)
Maybe a full usable free of charge for individuals (for the three popular operating systems Windows, Mac OS, and Ubuntu/LinuxMint) and a paid support (enterprise maybe)? You can follow WPS Office and FoxitPDF examples An Affinity Desktop Publisher that is an alternative to Adobe InDesign and Quark
What do you guys think? Looking forward to hear your thoughts

Existence of Windows version of Affinity programs makes running them on Linux theoretically possible. While installers refuse to work under both Wine and Mono, it's no big deal as it's possible to just copy the installation from another PC or virtual machine with Windows. However, after copying files the problem is usage of .NET and WPF while being 64 bit applications. Both Wine and Mono behave as if .NET is not installed. Support for 64-bit .NET on Wine and Mono is almost non-existent, however 32bit apps usually work. Therefore, 32bit build would be super useful, as it may mean finally getting professional graphic editor on Linux (of course there will be a lot of "fun" getting DX10 to work so nothing is warranted).
By the way, the only thing that made Designer go over 2GB of RAM usage was .psd exporting.

Hi Guys, congratulation for the awesome work. Your product is for sure a game changer in the market now. Since affinity have the Version for mac and windows (and now ipad on the way), i ask. Do you have future plans to make versions for linux and chrome OS.
I think with these 2 systems included, the name of Serif and Serif products will blow up. I wish you the best, and keep the good work.

First off, its great to see another contender in the ring against Adobe.
Microsoft tried and failed with there Expression Studio software, but then again its not the first mistake they have ever made.
You guys have some solid programs and your Affinity Project looks great, but why just Mac?
Hear(read) me out, I have a big love for the Linux Community. Ubuntu is the distro I use a lot on my laptop, its clean, its simple and has came a long way from the days of old. With the new Software Center and Unity Bar you can't really go wrong. The only thing Ubuntu lacks is big business software.
There seems to be this thing about software you pay money for over something that is free, the free stuff just doesn't give people the same feeling as bought. So here is what I suggest, why not develop for Linux (Ubuntu)?
I know plenty of people in design that if they knew a solid design application was out for Ubuntu they'd switch. It's gawna happen soon Serif, Steam(games) are encouraging people to develop their games for Linux for SteamOS. these game will be available on the Steam client for Ubuntu.
Think about it, the more Steam pushes Linux, the more younger people will choose the free Linux OS distros that support steam clients. This means in the future there will be a pretty good opening for a solid design studio on Linux. Being the Adobe of the Linux world wouldn't be a bad thing, since the power house Adobe refuse to support Linux.
https://forums.adobe.com/message/4728888
Think about it Serif.